Bobi Wine Rejects Uganda Election Results, Calls for Peaceful Protests

Tue Jan 20 2026 14:42:32 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine, speaking from hiding, declares he will not pursue legal action regarding the disputed election results won by President Museveni, urging supporters to protest peacefully instead.

In a recent interview with the BBC, opposition leader Bobi Wine stated he will not contest the election results in court, expressing a lack of faith in the judicial system. Instead, he has called on his supporters to engage in peaceful protests against the contested results. President Yoweri Museveni, who was declared the winner with 72% of the vote, has dismissed the opposition's claims as unfounded and labeled them as terrorists. Wine, currently in hiding, asserts the election was marred by fraud and has alleged that security forces have been targeting his family.

Uganda's opposition leader Bobi Wine has told the BBC he will not contest the results of Thursday's election in court, citing a lack of confidence in the judiciary and has instead urged his supporters to take to the streets to peacefully protest.

Speaking to the BBC from hiding, he said he would continue to stand up to President Yoweri Museveni despite concerns for his safety.

The judiciary in Uganda is captured and we encourage Ugandans to use any legal means to fight back and protect their democracy, the 43-year-old former pop star said.

Museveni, 81, won the vote by a landslide and has accused the opposition of seeking to overturn the results through violence, calling them terrorists.

He gained 72% of the vote while Wine, his closest challenger, got 25%.

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, maintains the results are fake and has cited ballot stuffing without providing any details.

During his interview, Wine also hit out at the security forces for not allowing food into his family home where his wife and relatives are effectively under house arrest. He says he fled the house, in a suburb of the capital, Kampala, on Friday night during a raid by the security forces.

We reject those results because they are fake and they don't in any way reflect the voting pattern. They are completely different from the results in the electoral on the polling stations and on the declaration forms, Wine told the BBC, speaking from an undisclosed location.

In their report, the African Union (AU) election observers said they saw no evidence of ballot stuffing, but condemned days-long internet shutdown - which only returned hours after President Museveni was declared the winner on Saturday.

After losing to Museveni in 2021, Wine challenged the results but later withdrew the petition, citing what he called the court's bias and lack of impartiality.

He also alleged there was an ongoing silent massacre as political activists were targeted in a crackdown.

In a social media post, he said more than 100 people had been killed in election violence - without stating evidence.

More than 100 youths have been remanded in prison on various charges linked to election-related incidents across Kampala, the Daily Monitor newspaper reported.

Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda's army chief and Museveni's son, said security forces had killed 22 opposition supporters during poll-related violence.

He also threatened Wine, giving him exactly 48 hours to surrender himself to the police. If he doesn't, we will treat him as an outlaw/rebel and handle him accordingly, he said.

Wine went on to call for a peaceful change of regime, saying protests were constitutional rights. We encourage Ugandans to evoke any constitutional means to fight back, he added.

In his victory speech on Sunday, Museveni highlighted his party's dominance, noting that he has been in power since 1986 without a peaceful transfer of presidential power.